The Faculty Council completed their review of the proposed new Faculty Organization Constitution at a called meeting on Monday, May 3. Following extensive review and discussion at separate Division meetings and by the Council, the Constitution was approved by an overwhelming majority in a roll call vote as amended. Both AFO representatives on the Council, myself and Cecelia Fox, voted in the affirmative. The Council then approved the scheduling of a vote on this proposal by the full-time faculty on May 10 and 11. Under the provisions of the current Faculty Organization, adjunct faculty will not have a vote in this election.

If approved by the full-time faculty, the new constitution will become effective in April 2011. This proposal integrates adjunct faculty into the Faculty Organization as full members. Adjunct faculty members with six-or-more regular semesters of service (i.e., fall and spring semesters; summer semesters excluded) will become full voting members, and the separate Adjunct Faculty Organization will be dissolved.

This proposal greatly expands the opportunities for adjunct faculty to participate in all aspects of academic life and shared governance as first- rather than second-class citizens and colleagues in this institution. It is my opinion that this involvement will only become truly effective if adjunct faculty somehow become more fully involved in the discussion and decision making at the discipline and division level. This will take a certain amount of creativity and give-and-take on the part of our full-time colleagues, including for some a radical shift in attitude.

Members of the drafting committee, which began their work prior to the beginning of the fall 2009 semester, included the AFO President, Terri Marquis. The members developed what I believe to be a creative and highly workable solution that offers the potential to greatly streamline the functioning of the Faculty Organization. The full membership list is:

This will be my last posting as your representative, as I am moving at the end of this semester to Oregon to “play with my grandchildren”. I am presently scheduled to teach at Portland Community College for the fall semester, and look forward to meeting my new colleagues and students. I wish you all every success in your tenure at HACC.

The Faculty Personnel Policies Committee had its last meeting of the Semester on Monday, November 23. It was announced at that time that there would be no meeting on December 14 as that day is the first day of examinations. The next meeting will be on January 25, 2010.

The Committee discussed three APs that had been approved by Faculty Council, amended by Cabinet, and returned to FPPC for review. In each case, the FPPC was asked to review both the Faculty Council version and the Cabinet revisions.

– AP 887 – Grievance Procedures for Faculty and Staff

– AP 817 – Faculty Tenure

– AP 813 – Assignment of Initial Academic Rank and Salary to Faculty

Each of the above APs was referred to subcommittees for their comments. Final review and recommendations should take place at the next meeting (January 25, 2010).

Discussion of AP 872 (Evaluation of Tenure-Track Faculty) generally focused on including advising of students as a part of the evaluation. The Chair indicated that she will share the discussion with the Steering Committee as members examine the whole issue of advising.

AP 131 (Public Information Releases and News Media Contacts) was also reviewed. This AP, with changes, was approved unanimously.

Greetings. An effort is underway to more fully integrate the adjunct faculty in the Faculty Organization. A committee, headed by Pam Watkins and including our AFO President, Terri Marquis, is working on an updated Faculty Organization Constitution. They have developed a survey to gauge the level of participation adjunct faculty may be able and/or desire to participate in the expanded Faculty Organization. All currently active adjunct faculty should have received an email from Pam Watkins containing an explanation and a link to complete it. If a faculty member has completed the Adjunct Faculty survey on your (shared) HACC computer, no one else will be able to complete the survey with that computer. The survey stores IP addresses to discourage multiple submissions from the same computer. You may complete the survey at home or you can use a different computer at HACC.

The survey will remain open until noon Friday, October 23. Please make every effort to complete the survey and provide comments as appropriate.

A resolution was adopted requesting that the Administration develop health care option(s) that would permit part-time employees, including adjunct faculty, to buy-in at their expense, if they so choose. The resolution read as follows:

Faculty Council endorses the recommendation of the Adjunct Faculty Organization (AFO) that the Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) develop healthcare options that allow part-time employees, including adjunct faculty, to buy into the health care system at HACC. The option(s) provided to part-time employees should contain provisions which provide portability and coverage for periods where the employees may not be on the payroll (i.e., off-semesters, family leave, etc.) but are reasonably expected to return.

The audited enrollment report was summarized, with the following highlights noted:

Enrollment was up 13.2% college-wide. More-importantly, credit hours were up 14.6%. All campuses reported increases, with York up 30% before they had to cut-off registrations due to facility constraints; Harrisburg was up 10% after several years of level growth.

Difficulty was noted in identifying sufficient adjunct faculty to cover increased demand. Particularly severe shortfalls were noted in developmental programs, with all available slots for students filled by early July and many wait-listed for the next semester. These courses, along with the growing programs in Franklin and Juniata Counties, present particular opportunities for adjunct faculty who may be available and seeking increased teaching options.

Council passed with amendments two APs of interest to adjunct faculty who may seek full-time positions:

AP 813 – Assignment of Initial Academic Rank and Salary to Faculty. This AP provides for consideration of prior academic and/or industry experience in the initial assignment of rank and salary.

AP 812 – Promotion of Faculty. This AP makes provision for accelerated promotion for faculty who attain specified experience after their hire date that could potentially qualify them for a higher rank assignment.

Both APs give consideration for prior experience, consideration that did not exist when I began teaching at HACC in 1999, but which has begun to be recognized both formally and informally. Please be certain to review the final versions when they complete their review and approval process.

Additionally, a resolution was proposed and accepted that urged the administration to:

For those unfamiliar, Google Docs is an option presently available free to those holding Gmail accounts. It provides a variety of features, including online file storage, creation of shared workspaces, and various online applications that include word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet functionality. Microsoft has a similar functionality available free online in Office Live that integrates with MS Office. Both represent differing approaches to what is presently called Cloud Technology, which seeks to push application and storage online and independent of the user operating system. I believe faculty members should become familiar with both, as our students are already beginning to use either or both, including on their netbooks and smart phones.

Our committee would like to provide training to meet your needs.For example, if you want to learn how to use a blog in your course, or need a refresher in where to send a student for a specific issue, we’re here to help. As an adjunct, you may want to be more informed in relation to current college policies. Please contact Carol Martin at clmarti2@hacc.edu if you have any suggestions.

Welcome

This site has been developed to improve communications for adjunct faculty teaching at HACC. You will see various pages designed to familiarize you with our organization purpose, provide contact information, and familiarize you with the various Faculty Organization standing committees created to be the faculty voice in the HACC shared governance system. You may comment on a posting or contact your representatives using their e-mail link. You are encouraged to subscribe to the Entries RSS feed to received updates as they occur.